Friday, September 30, 2011

This is Pablo Piccaso's "Death of Casagemas" it is a painting done in 1901. This shows great use of complementary colors , the green and red, and the blue and orange. Picasso painted this as an intimate portrait of a friend of his that had committed suicide over a lover. This was done in Picasso's early blue period.

I separated her face from the rest of the photo because I like the way her face was made. I like the waves in her hair and the movement. But what I don’t understand is that if the painting is called “Birth of Venus” her face has a rather blank, almost sad stare. Nevertheless she has a pretty face and the painting has this delicacy about itself. It was created by Alessandro Botticelli in 1485. Venus or Aphrodite is the pagan love god, Cupid’s mother. The story goes that she emerged from the sea on a shell and is pushed to the shore by the winds produced by the Zephyr wind-gods that are on the left on the painting along a shower of roses. As she is about to step on the shore, a Nymph (one the right side) reaches out to cover her naked body with a purple cloak. At this time in Renaissance history, when almost all art was of Christian theme, nude women are not often depicted and when they were they symbolize sinful lust. This pose was one that was mostly held by the Virgin Mary. This was the first large scale canvas. This painting is among the most treasured masterpieces of the Renaissance.